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Topic: want a new robot tutorial? (Read 163847 times)

LDR is light dependent resistor.I used them to sense the difference in reflectivity of light from white lines and dark background.

But the problem is that i am given a grid and not a single line, so i need to keep a track of how much distance i have covered by cunting number of intersections. How may i do that?

I have read the turorial on IR and noted use of the sensors.But i need an algorithm and some fixed pattern in which i should mount the sensors.I think just two on either side of the line are not enough in my case.Thanks in advance

How about a quick power usage tutorial as it relates to bateries, motors and MCU's?For example : how long will this battery run with this motor, or how long will my board logic be able to run with this battery setup.

However, it might be a good idea to include all the math and all, but also provide a chart at the bottom or something,that can be used as an easy reference. For example, if the robot is 10 lb, how much torque would be required (orrecommended) by the motors, stuff like that.. So that we can calculate the torque and gearing if we wanted, but there'sstill a rough guideline that can be followed, and also to check that the calculations are right.

Unfortunately I have never done anything with pneumatics/hydraulics - so I cannot write a tutorial . . .

But here are a few things to help you on your way:Pneumatics (using air) and hyrdraulics (using a liquid) are useful for very high force motions.If you are building a medium or small size robot, only use pneumatics.

Hi admin I have a problem which I am sure that most of the complete beginners are also facing that is most of the beginners dont know C or basic language and it would waste a lot of time learning these.

Please write a tutorial on how we can use visual basic or visual basic.net to write programmes in order to interface devices with pc's or controlle other stuff with it OR simply HOW CAN WE WRITE A PROGRAMME IN VISUAL BASIC OR VB.NET WHICH ACTIVATES THE SERIAL PORT PINS?

what about a robot control theory page? basically feedback systems, which then would delve into fuzzy logic and PID control? you are right, fuzzy logic and PD is very important. usually way overcomplicated in the literature out there too.

any complaints about me just doing PD control? most robots dont need that integral term, especially the low mass bots running on microcontrollers that most people build.

Hey, ever since I began wanting to build automated devices I have checked out your site for mechanics and electronics information. I wonderd upon it one day by looking for torque formulas on the google search engine. Well now I have all the information I need, except one thing, SPICE. I have been using SPICE sims for awhile, major brand sims like OrCad PSPICE and minor ones like a free SPICE Sim called LTSpice/Switcher CAD III (my personal favorite), I don't want to plug a company here so you could easily search for it on google, but your probobly already know of it. Well anyway now I can get to my point to why I would like a Spice tutorial if I already know enough for my needs about it. One problem, I can never get MOSFETs of any kind to work correctly on any sim, I have tried around 10 different programs. In my schems I am usually sending +3V DC to the Gate of a N-Enhanced MOSFET, which then allows a current of +5V DC 500mA to pass from the Drain to the Source (and youre right the names are absolutely contradictory). However I always get the same graph analysis (Transient Domain, DC Sweep) that shows that current is always flowing out of the Source at 5V, even when the Gate recieves 0V! Crazy... but maybe I am doing something wrong. You probobly don't have time to write a tutorial on this, but I would really appreaciate if anyone else could set me in the right direction.

Dude, I am totally in the same boat you are in when it comes to spice, and I even studied this crap at CMU. There might be something we are missing here, but it seems like every time I try to simulate an advanced power circuit, things go wrong in retarded ways. I have found spice to be excellent in simulating RLC filters of almost any kind, and it usually does a good job with circuits involving up to 3 BJT transistors, but anything more than that and things just seem to not work. Basically I end up treating spice sims as a step up from using a calculator - good for avoiding some annoying equations, but nowhere near a replacement for real world experiments.

There are already SPICE tutorials written, so I dont think it a good idea to write one, considering I have had very limited experience with it. The majority of the circuits I make, other than sensor interfaces, involves MOSFETs. I tried using them on SPICE once, couldnt figure it out, and quit without really trying.

You could just use a transistor (and possibly modify the settings in SPICE to get it to closely act like a mosfet), or just use some other circuit that acts like an on/off switch (ideas?). Depends on what you want to model.

dude...really a cool site for beginners....btw....y not u give a step by step procedure for making a particular robot....just to know abt the ckts....when u tell us step by step procedure for example a biped robo....tht ll help us wrk on it and help us to achieve it....pls consider a tutorial on how to make each robo step by step....say start frm a ckt board...how to connect the wires.....how to join the wires with the motors....wat sort of chassis to choose...wat material to b chosen.....etc...thank u....waiting for positive replysrsasuma

I have been planning to rewrite my main tutorial (http://www.societyofrobots.com/robot_tutorial.shtml) to do just as you say. It was my first tutorial written for the site, but I dont like it much anymore. I also have plans to post my designs of robots online, down the the tiniest details, for others to copy. Been kinda busy, but its at the top 5 of things to do for the site. Will probably be another month before I get that done . . .

y not u give a step by step procedure for making a particular robot....just to know abt the ckts....when u tell us step by step procedure for example a biped robo....tht ll help us wrk on it and help us to achieve it....pls consider a tutorial on how to make each robo step by step....say start frm a ckt board...how to connect the wires.....how to join the wires with the motors....wat sort of chassis to choose...wat material to b chosen.....etc...

how did u manage to learn abt ckts....u said u r a mech engg basically....?coz even i am intrested in ckts...and i am also a mech engg...i find it difficult....which wire to connect whr to get an output....very confusing....

How did I learn? Experimentation, fried circuits, an explosion of pretty sparks once, an occasional burning of my skin, and an occasional working circuit . . . etc.

I took 3 electrical engineering classes as electives. If you want to make robots, fill up all your electives with MechE, computer science, and electrical engineering classes. Take at least the first two intro classes for each major.

All you need to do is understand how each circuit component works, then you have enough knowledge to experiment on your own. I more or less just built up intuition on it over time.

how did u manage to learn abt ckts....u said u r a mech engg basically....?coz even i am intrested in ckts...and i am also a mech engg...i find it difficult....which wire to connect whr to get an output....very confusing....

I'd like to see a tutorial on how to design and construct robotic limbs, like robotic arms, and possibly legs, using servos and/or actuators.... And also on the theory behind walking robots. Keeping the design as simple to assemble as possible would be a plus.

I'd like to see a tutorial on how to design and construct robotic limbs, like robotic arms, and possibly legs, using servos and/or actuators.... And also on the theory behind walking robots. Keeping the design as simple to assemble as possible would be a plus.

About once a year I get inspired to build a walking robot . . . I try to design one, and I soon quit realizing its a huge amount of effort and will cost mucho dinero in actuators. So Im a noob at robot legs and cant help on that . . .

Kindly guide me to buld a robot which follows a straight line path and counts the no. of black strips in its path. And it should detect the red color. I am thinking of using colour sensor circuits with LDRs and NOT n AND gates..Can u suggest more on this..or any better way..

If you still want to make another tutorial (seeing as the last replie was on march 6th) mabye anding certain sensors to your robot. Mabye temp, motion detectors, light sensors and rc for people who want a hands on control.

Hey I'm back after a looong summer. I've been doing some research of my own into Non-holonomic robots (R/C car a base is what I'm working on) and I think it would be a good idea to have some mention of Holonomic vs Non-Holonomic movement. Also some mention of the difference between Sense-Plan-Act and Reactive methods of AI would probably help people with their first robot.

So good news is that my next tutorial will be how to build a holonomic robot. Its been in the works for awhile. Followed by building robot arms, which a few people have asked about, but I put off cause its a LOT of information. The tutorial request queue has gotten long and Ive fallen behind . . .

The bad news is that I will be tied up for a few months producing/directing an independent film series about Thailand, meaning less free time. Dont ask . . . So Ill probably just make 1 or 2 tutorials for SoR per month till that is done . . . will take awhile . . . sorry for delays everyone!

As for reactive methods . . . Name me a non-human controlled robot that isnt reactive No matter how advanced the control law is, there is always a control law, hence always a reaction. Right? Even the most advanced of AI is based on a set of action-reaction rules.